REVIEW: It’s a Good Life — but is it a good time? Three critics weigh in.

A new jukebox musical featuring the songs of the Tragically Hip is treading the boards of Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario. 

Entitled It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken, the show follows the Canadian newcomer story of Waleed (Ali Momen), an exiled journalist and refugee from Iraq. It’s 2002, and he hopes to return to his aging mother in Baghdad as soon as possible — but in the meantime, he attempts to find his feet in Kingston, Ontario, the Hip’s hometown.

Scott Penner has designed a stage flanked by large concrete pillars, graffitied with the Hip’s lyrics in English and Arabic. Here, we encounter Waleed’s new world: from the local café where he finds work to the record store where he meets and falls for Kate (Talia Schlanger). Karim Butt, as the omniscient Sam, narrates the journey. 

Written by Jesse LaVercombe and Ahmed Moneka with direction by Mary Francis Moore, the show has heavy-hitting producers, including David and Hannah Mirvish, Michael Rubinoff, and the National Arts Centre and its National Creation Fund. A show with serious dreams warrants serious discussion, so Intermission sent three reviewers to see it during the opening weekend of performances, from May 1 to 3. 

All three writers are participants in ON Criticism: The 2025/26 Theatre Critics Lab, a collaboration between the Grand Theatre, Talk is Free Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, and Intermission.

Here’s an edited version of their discussion, which happened over video call.

Joe Szekeres (JS): First off, some initial impressions. 

Caelan Beard (CB): I unexpectedly really loved it. I’m not necessarily a Tragically Hip fan — I’m familiar with their catalogue, but I don’t regularly listen to them. 

I’m also not a huge fan of Come From Away — I find it a little cheesy in a ‘rah-rah Canada’ sort of way. I thought this show might be the same (since both are produced by Michael Rubinoff and strongly emphasize the Canadian setting), but I found it was actually more nuanced. 

Alexandrea Marsh (AM): I have often found that jukebox musicals can pigeonhole music into a narrative. I didn’t feel that with this — instead, the music was more complementing the vibe of the moment, rather than developing the narrative.

JS: I was happily surprised. Similar to you, Caelan, I knew who Gord Downie was, but I didn’t search out the Hip’s music. If it was playing on my car radio, I’d listen. I was pleasantly surprised by Sunday’s performance.

Does it work as a theatre piece? Absolutely. Would I say that’s a must-see Canadian musical? Also yes.  

AM: At first glance, it was telling the kind of story that some people may not see as their definition of Canadian. But if you look at the tapestry of our country, it’s undeniable. It felt like the kind of Canadian story that would make Downie proud.

CB: Often our Canadian arrival stories are centred around that person being in Canada. This production showcased what Waleed had back home. His heart was still there. His whole life was still there. He was trapped between these two places and not fully in either space. 

JS: There was a throughline of acceptance and a sense of belonging. I keep find myself thinking of Margaret Atwood’s book Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature — survival is part of who we are as Canadians. 

AM: I’m reminded of the lyrics: ‘For a good life, we may have to weaken… and find somewhere to grow.’ 

That felt like, as you said, this Canadian spirit, but also the spirit that comes from newcomers that are leaving so much and fighting so much, just to find somewhere safe to grow. 

CB: So much of Canadian identity is a sense of place and the actual, physical spaces that we’re in. One song where this jumped out for me was ‘Bobcaygeon,’ where they’re walking around in falling snow. 

It put me right into a moment of walking across a frozen lake in Northern Ontario, seeing stars in a dark sky. It almost made me cry to see someone on stage experience that, and have that sort of connection with a physical place in Canada.

AM: If you’ve been out after a fresh snow, you know the way that muffles everything around you — and they cut all the music and sound cues there, and it was just Sam’s voice, speaking softly. This deep, deep quiet was a gorgeous sound design by Ranil Sonnadara.

JS: We’ve been talking about Canadiana. Jesse LaVercombe is originally American, and Ahmed Moneka came from Iraq. They’ve beautifully encapsulated those moments that make us proud of our country.

AM: I think it’s kind of a lovely perspective. It is a newcomer story — so who better to tell it?

CB: Newcomers have a very different perspective on things that we don’t even really think about, because they’ve become normalized to us. 

JS: One issue I had: I felt the orchestra overpowered some of the choral numbers, and I could not hear the lyrics clearly. 

CB: Yeah, I thought the orchestra was too loud and I couldn’t pick out individual words. ‘Wheat Kings’ and ‘Bobcaygeon’ were definitely my two favourites, I think partly because those were so scaled back. 

AM: I did have that initial thought, and I wasn’t sure if it was the production’s band, or the vocals — which did a really good job replicating that raw, alt-rock Gord Downie sound. As I became more comfortable that these songs aren’t necessarily propelling a narrative, but rather setting a scene, the more I was able to just not worry too much. Would I prefer it if the actors used perfect music theatre enunciation? Probably not.

I was so moved by ‘As I Wind Down the Pines,’ when these three ensemble members were singing with a new sound that reminded me of Arabic music — completely different from the rest of the show, harmonizing in modal systems that were not used in the original Hip orchestrations. (Music director Bob Foster and music coordinator Levon Ichkhanian threaded elements of Arabic music into the score.) That was a really successful example of mixing two different musical styles, which I wished I had seen more of, to be honest. 

CB: I think they could have done maybe a little more with merging the two. 

JS: Let’s talk about some of the performances. As Waleed, Ali Momen is phenomenal. Just a genuine believability and likability in the man, both as a performer and as a singer; I bought his performance completely.

AM: There was something really delicate and sweet to him, but also, as you saw in other scenes, harsh and sure. That speaks to the range of Momen’s performance.

CB: Talia Schlanger’s performance was beautifully sung, but I got a little sick of Kate’s story by the second act.

The first number she had by herself, ‘Cordelia,’ felt OK; it’s some resolution. But by ‘Grace, Too,’ the duet with her brother Jonathan, played by Brandon McGibbon, I was like, ‘I just want to know what’s happening with Waleed. I’m worried about my guy.’ 

AM: I felt like there was an attempt at creating a local parallel to Waleed’s struggle, through Kate’s familial conflicts. But unfortunately, one conflict outweighed the other, and so I lost interest. 

I have some comments about the romance between Kate and Waleed. It just didn’t do it for me. There were moments where I thought it was working, like ‘Bobcaygeon.’ And then there were moments where I felt it was undercutting the main interesting story, which is Waleed’s relationship to place. 

JS: Maybe I’m a sucker for romance, but I bought it. I thought it was a very touching story between the two of them. 

Tahirih Vejdani, who plays Didi, the owner of the café, was also lovely. I thought she gave a very honest performance. 

AM: I appreciated Waleed’s roommate Lucas (Kevin McLachlan). He really humanized this stereotype of the Queen’s University frat boy. There was a silent acceptance from Lucas from the start, who just was like, ‘Yeah, sure, come live with me. I don’t care.’ And in Waleed’s time of need, the way Lucas just sat with him, it was very touching, and one of the high moments in this show.

CB: What do you guys think of the ending?

AM: I really did like it when the ensemble let go of structured choreography and just came together. 

JS: I loved the ending for the curtain call, ‘Ahead by a Century.’ I’m a sucker for that kind of conclusion — with the full company on stage, singing one of the Hip’s most iconic songs. 

AM: This very fluid storytelling from one music number to the next — that’s what moved the story along for me. I think that’s the way a lot of musical theatre is heading, and was very well done here. And then at the end, it felt like a rock concert. The audience was literally yelling for an encore.

CB: It’s even more impressive that they kept a quick pace when a lot of the songs just felt like they were sort of reflective, as opposed to moving the plot along. The director, Mary Francis Moore, did an amazing job with this.

AM: I think the Hip must be on many people’s main-character-energy playlist. Downie just makes me want to wistfully stare out a window, and reflect on my place in the world.

JS: I’m thinking of seeing the show again when the Thousand Islands Playhouse presents it in Kingston this October. I believe the writers are going to keep tweaking the show, and I’d like to see what those changes are. Would you see this again? 

AM: I want to keep following it, since I’ve started so early. It’s so interesting to be on the ground floor for a musical that I think is going to be very, very big. 

JS: I’m the same way too. I think this is just going to be big. Whether or not it surpasses Come From Away, I don’t know, but it’s going to make its mark in Canada. 

CB: I personally liked it way more than Come From Away — I thought it was a more nuanced, and more moving story. And I think too, if you look at Canada’s population, how many of us are immigrants or have grandparents or parents who are immigrants — I think it will speak to that large segment.

I saw an online reaction from someone in Buffalo, New York, saying that they couldn’t see the show filling theatres in America. Do you think it would only work in Canada? 

JS: Yeah, I saw it with a friend, and we talked about this. Is this too Canadian for an American audience? Personally, I think it is.

AM: It is very location-specific and nostalgic. We talk about how the scene of the blanketed snow affected us, and about this music that maybe a lot of us grew up with… I think it especially works in Canada. 

CB: I feel like that’s kind of the point. The Hip’s music only really works for a Canadian audience. Not like, you know, Shucked — the American musical that came to Mirvish, where the reaction was, ‘Do we want to watch this right now?’ It’s kind of nice to have it go the other way for once. It’s nice to see something get produced that is specifically for Canada.

It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken runs at Theatre Aquarius until May 24. More information is available here.

Alexandrea Marsh, Caelan Beard, and Joe Szekeres had this conversation as part of ON Criticism: The 2025/26 Theatre Critics Lab, a collaboration between the Grand Theatre, Talk is Free Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, and Intermission.

WRITTEN BY

Alexandrea Marsh

Alexandrea Marsh is a London, Ontario-based artist with a background in multi-media marketing, theatre performance, and bartending. Their perspectives are shaped by both local and international theatrical training, and an enduring passion for literary criticism. A lifelong learner (with a healthy fear of becoming the world’s biggest know-it-all), she spends her days (and nights) at the Palace Theatre across marketing, administration, facilities, and community outreach to champion the local arts scene.

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Caelan Beard

Caelan Beard (she/her) is a freelance journalist, communications specialist, and author from southwestern Ontario. She is excited to be a part of ON Criticism: The 2025/2026 Theatre Critics Lab, a collaboration between Intermission and four Ontario theatres. In addition to theatre, she loves books, being outside as much as possible, and driving around Ontario in search of baked goods.

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WRITTEN BY

Joe Szekeres

A retired 33-year Ontario certified Catholic school teacher, Joe is the founder, editor and publisher of Our Theatre Voice (www.ourtheatrevoice.com). He loves travelling, improving his knowledge of French, and learning new things he can cook in his Crock-Pot. A family-oriented guy, Joe looks forward one day to taking his great-niece Aurora and great-nephew Colton to the theatre.

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